The Ra’haam is coming here.
And it’ll arrive in less than twenty hours.
No help is coming. No miracle on its way. We’re outnumbered and outgunned—though we still have reserve ships and a defense grid, the simple fact is, a fleet that size will make short work of any resistance we can muster.
“Scar, you’ve gotta get out of here.”
We’re standing on the promenade, the chaos of the crowd milling around us. What’s left of station command has confirmed the Ra’haam is inbound to Aurora Station, and all nonessential personnel have been ordered to evacuate. Vendors and their families are hastily packing up their stores and possessions, the dark outside lit up by the flare of hundreds of engines—shuttles and carriers and freighters streaming through the FoldGate, headed toward whatever safety they can find.
“Brother mine,” Scarlett says, “you’re out of your mind.”
“I mean it,” I say, waving to the station around us. “The time for diplomacy is long gone, Scar. There’s no sense you staying here.”
“There’s no sense in anyone staying here, far as I can tell,” Fin says.
“Thank you!” Scar cries, giving Fin a dramatic bow. “At last, someone here is talking sense!”
“I thought you weren’t supposed to be talking at all,” I mutter.
My Gearhead flashes me a grin, his new exosuit hissing softly as he shrugs. “We all knew it was too good to last.”
“Seriously, Tyler, we should evac with th—”
“I can’t do that, Scar. I swore an oath to the Legion when I joined it.”
“The Legion?” she scoffs. “Tyler, we lost most of our commanders and nearly all our ships when Octavia bloomed! The Legion is absolutely fuc—”
“I know!” I say, my temper flaring. “I know better than anyone! Trust me, I’ve run this math with de Stoy a thousand times! But if I’m gonna die, then I’m gonna die fighting! And the best place to fight from is here!”
She meets my stare and simply shrugs. “Then I’m staying with you.”
“Scar, no, there’s no—”
“I don’t want to hear it!” Scar shouts. “I didn’t join the Legion because I wanted to make the galaxy a better place! I didn’t join it to be a hero! I joined it because you’re my baby brother and I look after you! And I didn’t drag my fabulous ass across time and space and collapsing paradox loops just to turn and run at the first sign of a little galaxy-shattering cataclysm, you hear me?”
I look my sister in the eye.
I’ve known Scarlett Isobel Jones my entire life. I know her better than anyone in the ’Way. I know she coasted her way through the academy, that she never really took this as seriously as she could, that maybe she was never the best recruit in the Legion.
But I can see now how the trials she’s faced and the battles she’s fought have changed my sister. She’s harder than she used to be. Braver. I can see that over the past few months she’s found a well of strength inside herself even she never knew existed. But there’s one thing about Scarlett Isobel Jones that’s remained the same. One thing all this loss and struggle haven’t managed to change.
She still loves more fiercely than anyone I’ve ever met.
“Scarlett,” I say. “If you stay here, you’re going to die.”
“I lost you once, Ty,” she replies, chin raised. “I’m not doing it again.”
Fin steps up beside her, taking her hand. “Looks like you’re stuck with both of us, boss.”
I sigh, looking out the massive viewport to the stars outside. The fleeing ships. The fall of a galaxy.
I know there’s no way out of this. I know we’re looking down the barrel of our own execution. And I remember what it felt like fighting Cat in the reactor. Looking into those glowing eyes. Bleeding out on the floor. That awful moment when I wondered if it wouldn’t be better to just lose myself in the Ra’haam rather than die alone.
I know how stupid that fear was now. Because even in my darkest hours, I’ve never been alone. And so I put my arms around Scar, hold her tight, grabbing Fin and pulling him in, too.
This is what family is, I realize.
To never be alone.
The lighting around us shifts to red. An alarm pitches across the PA, a metallic voice echoing across the promenade.
“Aurora Station, this is Battle Leader de Stoy. Red alert: Unauthorized vessels inbound. All stations Ready one.”